A Calf for Christmas (original title: När Bäckhultarn for till stan) is a children's book by Astrid Lindgren.

A Calf for Christmas was based on a story that Astrid Lindgren was told by her father Samuel August Ericsson.

[1] In Sweden, the story was first published in 1951 as När Bäckhultarn for till stan in the book En bil kommer lastad.

The German child and adolescent psychiatrist Michael Schulte-Markwort believes A Calf for Christmas is one of the most beautiful stories for bereaved counsel and comfort.

The watercolors by Marit Törnqvist are beautiful and "a fine complement to this unusual glimpse of rural Sweden at the turn of the century".

[5] Natalia Bragaru believes that A Calf for Christmas, like all Astrid Lindgren's books, has "multiple layers".

It provides information about the harsh realities of the daily life on a farm in Sweden, telling of the gap between the poor and the rich, the traditions of the farmers, as well as of love, hope and the belief in miracles.